Anger at maternity ward closing directed at Council

Former Port Jervis City Councilman John Wortmann shattered the cheerful tone of the year's first Common Council meeting, as he took the podium at a moment devoted to public comment to condemn the council for not working harder to prevent closure of the maternity ward at Bon Secours Community Hospital.

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By Jessica Cohen

recordonline.com

By Jessica Cohen

Posted Jan. 18, 2013 at 2:00 AM

By Jessica Cohen

Posted Jan. 18, 2013 at 2:00 AM

» Social News

Former Port Jervis City Councilman John Wortmann shattered the cheerful tone of the year's first Common Council meeting, as he took the podium at a moment devoted to public comment to condemn the council for not working harder to prevent closure of the maternity ward at Bon Secours Community Hospital.

Wortmann said he would have been on the phone with other elected officials.

Wortmann left the room without hearing the council members' responses.

Civil rights attorney Michael Sussman addressed the issue in a conciliatory tone. "I'm not sure this is time for anger at each other," he said.

He went on to explain the possibilities for challenging the state Health Department's decision to allow Bon Secours to close the unit. "I think the decision is arbitrary and capricious," he said.

He noted that Bon Secours Vice President Jeff Reilly had cited closure as a "moral obligation," given undertrained, insufficient and inexperienced staff.

"But I don't see information to that effect on the record," he said. "They had four OB/GYNs, but they were laid off and decertified. Women may be endangered in Pike and Sullivan County as well."

Sussman said the Health Department decision could be challenged within four months of the Dec. 21 announcement. He said defending potentially endangered women in the Port Jervis area would be the best legal approach.

"We're interested in working with you, not arguing with you," he told the council.

The mayor and councilmen did not respond to Sussman's offer, but defended their actions in the matter.

"I started writing letters before we went to Albany," said Mayor Russ Potter. Last March, a group of city officials and community members traveled to Albany for a hearing with state Health Department officials about the hospital's application to close its maternity ward.

"I don't think John Wortmann took a day off from work like we did to go to Albany," said 4th Ward Councilman Gerald Oney Jr.

"We're only 10 people. I would have liked to see Deerpark participate," said 3rd Ward Councilman Robert Waligroski.

"It's too late to do anything," said 4th Ward Councilman Stanley Siegel. "This hospital doesn't want to be more than a drug rehab and emergency center."

But outside the meeting Sussman reiterated, "If women are interested in proceeding — and I understand there are women (who do) — there's a clear path to proceed legally. From the beginning, the city hasn't seen itself as a potential litigant. I've explained that possibility, but they haven't been willing."

"Maternity services (at Bon Secours) have essentially already ended," Anne Horsham, a member of Citizens for Our Healthy Community, told the council. "There's no accepted closure plan, and this is all happening under our noses."

In other business, the council approved a request by Angela Castellano, owner of Angie's Food on the Run, to renew her peddler's license for the food truck she parks by the Park Avenue Observatory.